Just wanted to share my experience/how I did it.
So i had been running around with a MBC which was fun, but with fuel cut limiting me was I was stuck and wanted to go more. So after a day of reading seemed like a Stage 2 tune with T5Suite would be fairly simple. And it was, I think I spent more time installing and setting up the MBC setup than this.
I will explain briefly what I did, since there are already extensive tutorials out there.
I had an old computer (Celeron 400 w/ Win98SE originally) it had a parallel port. Made a DOS 6.22 boot CD, booted up the computer with this and then made a 2GB partition on the HDD (this will erase the HDD) and installed DOS to it (just copy the contents of the CD to the root of the C: drive. I then installed WinXP onto a separate partition. I know had a system that would allow me to pick either DOS or WinXP at start up. I then pulled the ECU out of the car opened it up and drilled out the pin header holes using a tiny drill bit. I then put the pin header in there and soldered it from underneath. I then connected it to this and plugged it into the computer. I then connected the power adapter I had made out of an old wiring harness for the ECU and a battery charger adapter that output about 16V. Booted into DOS ran BD32 (I will spare you the exact commands since the documentation with T5Suite covers that), dumped the firmware and rebooted into WinXP. Open T5Suite and tune the firmware and then save it in the BD32 folder in the dos partition. Reboot back to DOS and flash the firmware, then dumped it again and used the command prompt in WinXP to compare the file I flashed and just dumped.
Put the ECU back in the car and for a quick test drive, boost gauge gets to the end of the red almost and noticeably better performance

I did have a couple of problems:
1. I kept getting a cable error in BD32, turns out that I had to change the port mode for the parallel port (done in the BIOS setup).
2. I reused the pin header from something else and I had a hard time getting it to make contact with the connector on the programmer, ended up having to remove the plastic part of the pin header.

All in all it went pretty simply and would have taken less than an hour without the problems from removing the ECU to test drive. It definitely helped having the dual boot computer setup a head of time. I know there are other ways to do this with USB etc, but I couldn't find a USB programmer. So for about $30 and an hour of time I know have a 'new' car. I thought that my MBC purchase was good bang for my buck, this is even better, so I think I will have to start saving for that 3" DP

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You have pm.
Jake,I have a question,
When you was running mbc was you using a t5 or t7 apc too or just the mbc?
My car has nothing and im thinking mbc for now.
What was bhp like on the mbc?

How do you know your stage 2 bin has actually installed?are you live testing?

Also do you know where to get tested bin files?if not pm me I can direct you to test and tried and tested,its over my head and id sooner pay £50 for a map then risk burning my ecu out which should be noted to people who want to mess with t5suite,you make it sound alot easier then it actually is too that should also be noted (you obviously know a bit about computers,I do but this is above me)..

its way easier to just create a DOS-boot USB flash drive, load bd32 onto it, plug her in and turn on puter, bam DOS environment. The lappy i use runs Win7 and thats it. I mod the files in T5 suite in the OS, load them on the flash, leave the drive in, reboot, flash. done.

also to make things even easier I just use a small C clamp and pogo pins that match the header on the PCB, scratch off the coating, and clamp the pogos to the header "pits"...connection works great and no drilling/soldering.

You have pm.
Jake,I have a question,
When you was running mbc was you using a t5 or t7 apc too or just the mbc?
My car has nothing and im thinking mbc for now.
What was bhp like on the mbc?

How do you know your stage 2 bin has actually installed?are you live testing?

Also do you know where to get tested bin files?if not pm me I can direct you to test and tried and tested,its over my head and id sooner pay £50 for a map then risk burning my ecu out which should be noted to people who want to mess with t5suite,you make it sound alot easier then it actually is too that should also be noted (you obviously know a bit about computers,I do but this is above me)..

I dont see a PM, but t5, MBC isn't really very beneficial for a t7. I have my MBC setup for sale if interested. I don't know what the BHP was with the MBC, but it was running at about 15 PSI. I notice the ECU tune is a little smoother, with the MBC I got a a surge of power once I passed the normal boost PSI, with the ECU tune it will keep winding and make more boost, but less of a surge, more refined.
I am happy just to use my modified firmware, I doubt there is a significantly noticeable difference between that and one of the downloaded ones, plus I know that is based on the original firmware for my car.
The risk of frying you ECU is pretty slim, unless you don't take the proper precautions. And it really isn't that difficult, solder a few pins to the ECU, connect it up to a power supply and a programmer, run a couple of commands from DOS, tune the firmware, run a few more commands.
Like I said, setting up my MBC to my liking was more difficult than this.
And I know I have the correct firmware on there, I redumped it after flashing and compared it to the one I modified and there are no differences, not to mention that it boosts all the way thru the red, that definitely isn't stock.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Messinian900S

its way easier to just create a DOS-boot USB flash drive, load bd32 onto it, plug her in and turn on puter, bam DOS environment. The lappy i use runs Win7 and thats it. I mod the files in T5 suite in the OS, load them on the flash, leave the drive in, reboot, flash. done.

also to make things even easier I just use a small C clamp and pogo pins that match the header on the PCB, scratch off the coating, and clamp the pogos to the header "pits"...connection works great and no drilling/soldering.

My computer with a parallel boot isn't capable of booting from USB, that would have been my first way.
I did think about that, but I was toying with the idea of leaving the ribbon cable connected to the ECU so I could flash it in the car. Either way it only too me about 5-10 mins to solder the header pins.

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My computer with a parallel boot isn't capable of booting from USB, that would have been my first way.
I did think about that, but I was toying with the idea of leaving the ribbon cable connected to the ECU so I could flash it in the car. Either way it only too me about 5-10 mins to solder the header pins.

Ah right. Luckily my newer dell laptop has a docking station with a parallel connection on it =)

I think it would be kind of a hassle to flash in the car, but I believe you could get the memory snapshot that way (instead of using CAN).

The LPT (parallel port) programmer only functions under DOS (or at least has 0 problems). I understand if you have the CANUSB or BDMUSB device you can use T5Suite natively under windows to flash. Unfortunately I didn't have (or want to pay a lot for) either of those.

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The LPT (parallel port) programmer only functions under DOS (or at least has 0 problems). I understand if you have the CANUSB or BDMUSB device you can use T5Suite natively under windows to flash. Unfortunately I didn't have (or want to pay a lot for) either of those.

Sure...but the USBBDM Is marginally more expensive and is sooooo mcu better. Better yet, the CANusb does everything and is really the only way to properly tune your car since you can live tune in car and on the desk AND do diagnostics AND AND AND view adaptation values, knock events, APC adapt, fuel, and ignition.

By the way, I have no idea what DOS you guys are using, but the version I had needed to have special USB software loaded onto the DOS partition/disc and then executed using complex DOS jibber jabber! When I was in school I was beholden to that beast, but it is slow and tedious compared to the more modern CANusb.

I couldn't find anyone selling the USB programmer (CANUSB or BDMUSB) all the links were expired/old (I saw some universal ones but wasn't sure if they would work or not, I did contact JohnC but never heard back). I paid like $30 for mine and I knew it would work specifically with T5Suite. I also didn't really plan to do extensive testing and tuning, I figured the build in wizard would be good enough.
I used version 6.22 of DOS, downloaded a CD Iso and then booted to that and then installed that on a small partition on the HDD. No USB involved.
I'm sure the speed difference would have helped, but it didn't take long anyway. I am currently flashing my xbox360 firmware via LPT (it's been quite the workout for my old C400 system) and that is 256MB (1000x more than the ECU) and I am about 1/2 way thru after 7 hours.

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